Food-chopper.



0. D. WOODRUFF.

FOOD CHOPPER.

APPLICATION FILED DEO.-6, 1909.

953,935, Patented Apr. 5, 1910.

OLIVER D. WOODRUFF, OF SOUTI-IINGTON, CONNECTICUT.

FOOD- CHOPPER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed December 6, 1909.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, OLIVER D. oooRUFr, a citizen of the United States,residing at Southington, in the county of Hartford and State ofConnecticut, have invented a new and useful Improvement inFood-Choppers; and I do hereby declare the following, when taken inconnection with the accompanying drawings and the numerals of referencemarked thereon, to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same,and which said drawings constitute part of this specification, andrepresent, in

Figure 1 a sectional view illustrating a food chopper embodying myinvention. Fig. 2 a front view of one form of cutter adapted for usetherewith. Figs. 3 and a are side views of other forms of cuttersadapted to be substituted for the cutter shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

This invention relates to an improvement in food choppers andparticularly to the type in which the screw is entered and removedthrough the outer end of the casing, and is an improvement on the foodchopper for which Letters Patent of the United States No. 518,047 weregranted April 10, 1894.

In the use of food choppers it'is desirable to have a variety ofcutters, and usually three are provided. Generally the cutters areformed integral with the forcing screw, but the ends or cutting portionshave been formed independent of the screw and attached thereto.

The object of this invention is to provide simple means for attachingthe cutters to the forcing screw so that one cutter may be removed andanother attached without the use of independent attaching means, such asthumb screws, which are liable to become misplaced; and the inventionconsists in certain details of construction and combinations of parts aswill be hereinafter described and particularly recited in the claims.

In carrying out my invention I employ a casing or body 2 having theusual mouth or hopper 3. The casing or body is larger at its outer endthan at its inner end, and the screw or forcer t is inserted through theouter end of the casing and provided with a journal 5 to which thehandle 6 is attached by a thumb screw 7. The forcer 4: instead of beingformed with a cutter at its outer end, is shorter than the length of thecasing,

Patented Apr. 5, 1910.

Serial No. 531,552.

and is provided with a centrally arranged neck 8 and an oblong button orhead 9 by which the cutter 10 may be attached to the screw. The headcorresponds substantially in width to the diameter of the neck, but islonger than its width forming over-hanging ends and 16.

The cutter may be of any of the well known forms. Thus it may be ofsubstantial cup-shape with outwardly projecting flaring cutting fingers11 as shown in Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings, the flare of the fingerscorresponding to the taper of the outer end of the casing. Or the cuttermay have its side walls 12 formed with perforations 13 as shown in Fig.3 of the drawings, or it may have spiral grooves 14 as shown in Fig. tof the drawings, these spirals forming a continuation of the spirals onthe screw 4. In the bottom of these cutters I form a slot 17corresponding in length and width to the length and width of the head 9so that the cutter may be set over the head, and the inner end of theslot is semi-circular so as to closely fit the neck 8 when the cutter isconcentric with the outer end of the forcing screw.

Preferably I form an outwardly projecting rib 18 around the slot 17 andalso provide a stop lug 19. The lug 19 is in posi tion to be engaged byone side of the head so that when the screw is turned in the directionfor cutting, the head will engage with the lug l9 and turn the cutter.By causing the head to engage with the stop lug 19 the cup-like cutteris necessarily drawn into a concentric position relative to the feedscrew and will be held concentric with the case so that there is nodanger of wearing at one point more than another as is liable if thecup-like cutter is not firmly held in position. The object of the rib isto provide for fitting. The face of the cup is ground flat so as toclosely fit against the outer end of the foreing screw, and then if theouter edge of the rib 18 will not pass beneath the over-hanging ends 15and 16 of the head 9, the surfaces of this rib may be ground or cut downso that it will pass beneath the heads, it being desirable that thereshould be but little, if any, play between the cutter and the head, andthis rib may be conveniently trimmed down if necessary. One of thecutters 9 is connected with the forcing screw by passing the head 9 ofthe screw through the slot 17 and then inserting the screw into thecasing in the usual way. It is not necessary that the cutter should beheld in its proper relation with the screw when it is entered into thecasing as the casing will guide the cutter to a central position andwhen the screw is turned one end of the head will come against the lug19 and force the cutter to a central position, and when once in the caseand the screw connected with the handle the cutter cannot by anypossibility be removed, yet if it is desired to change the cutter it isonly necessary to loosen the screw so that its outer end may be movedsufficiently forward to enable one cutter to be detached and another oneattached.

Vith this construction I am enabled to furnish a casing and a singleforcing screw with a variety of cutters, and the cutters are connectedwith the forcing screw without separable means so that there are noparts to be lost, and the cutters may be attached by the mostinexperienced persons.

I claim 1. A food chopper comprising a casing having an outwardlyflaring body, a forcing screw mounted in said body, said screw shorterthan the body and formed with an outwardly projecting neck and anelongated head, and a cutter corresponding in diameter to the diameterof the outer end of the easing into which it is adapted to pass, anelongated slot in the bottom of said cutter corresponding substantiallyin 3 form to the form of the said head which is adapted to be turned soas to extend over the sides of the slot, and a stop lug at one side ofsaid slot to engage with one side of said head to cause the rotation ofthe cutter 4 and to prevent movement of said cutter longitudinallyduring the cutting operation.

2. A food chopper comprising a casing having an outwardly flaring body,a forcing screw mounted in said body, said screw 4" shorter than thebody and provided with an outwardly projecting neck and an elongatedhead, a cup-like cutter formed with an elongated slot through which saidhead may pass and so that when turned the head will extend across saidslot the inner end of the slot concentric with the bottom of the cutterand a stop-lug at one side of said slot to be engaged by one side ofsaid head to cause the rotation of the cutter and pre- 5 vent movementof the cutter longitudinally of the slot during the cutting operation.

In testimony whereof, I have signed this specification in the presenceof two subscribing witnesses.

OLIVER D. WOODRUFF.

Vitnesses FREDERIG C. EARLE, CLARA L. lVEED.

